Aaron and I were invited to lunch with Emo, Serry dog's mom, who owns a little teeny tiny convenience shop in our neighborhood. How adorable is Serry?! Man, we love this dog and she loves when we come to the store to see her!
And man do we love our Emo (word for aunt in Korean). She is just the sweetest, independent, gracious, giving, thankful, and inviting Korean woman! We absolutely adore her and were really excited when she asked us to lunch! We met in front of her shop at 1pm and walked over to a beef/pork restaurant down the street with two old men (who we've seen and talked to a bunch of times at her shop).
When we decided to be vegetarian, we decided that we wouldn't be obnoxious about 'it', and if people asked us to lunch or dinner for meat, we wouldn't say no! We actually really enjoyed the samgyupsal (Korean pork) today! It was the first time we'd had it in almost 6 months!
The two old men who joined us are two of the nicest Korean men we've ever encountered! This one is 78 years old and spent a lot of time in America over the years. He works 7 DAYS A WEEK, on a ship in Yeongdo's harbor, and has traveled all over during his 78 years! He speaks minimal English and usually mumbles so darn much we typically have no idea what he's saying and just nod yes and hope we're not saying yes to something we wouldn't never normally say yes too! lol
** I love that the servers cook the meat at your table for you if you can't do it (or don't want to do it) yourself!
I love how the drinking culture in Korea involves other people pouring/refilling your drink! Not only do they pour YOUR drink, they hold their hand over their chest or arm, depending on the age difference between you and them.
My sweet Korean aunt!
This guy was saying over and over again that he really likes Aaron and I. haha
When we were leaving, we wanted to take a photo all together to commemorate the lunch, but the servers wouldn't touch my camera because they were afraid to use it, so Aaron had to take this one! My favorite part about it is the old guy in the front who squatted down! Aaron said, in plain English, "Why is he squatting like that?!" There are perks to being with people who don't TOTALLY speak your language!
As we were walking out the door, the 78 year old man asked if he could take Emo, Aaron and I out to lunch on Feb 17th, before we leave for America! I love how hospitable and generous he iis! I was really blessed by all three of them today and had such a fun time! My guess is that we'll probably never experience something like this from neighborhood store owners back home, so we're taking it all in and enjoying every moment before we say goodbye to Busan!
